Chapter 15: Truth Be Known
Buffy awoke to find herself in the back of an ambulance, with Angel holding her hand, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. She could vaguely hear what he was saying, but knowing him, it was probably something about forever and the like.
She groaned in protest, wanting to get the hell away from where she knew the ambulance was headed.
“Buffy.” Angel murmured, watching her. “You’re awake.”
“Yeah,” Buffy muttered. “So, why the Hell am I in an ambulance?!”
“What do you remember?” Angel asked her as she sat up.
“Well,” Buffy sighed. “I remember coming home and checking in on Fred and Wesley. Then I remember coming softly into my own bedroom, where you were waiting for me, and then it’s all ‘fade to black’ scenario from there.”
“You passed out,” Angel explained.
“Okay,” Buffy replied, “So, how does that end up with me in an ambulance on my way to the hospital?”
“Fred called,” Angel continued. “She thought maybe you’d hit your head or something. She was worried.”
“Oh goodie,” Buffy retorted sarcastically. “Now, as you can see, I’m fine, so let me out of this damn vehicle.”
“Fine.” Angel nodded, and had the driver stop the vehicle.
“Are you sure you’re going to be all right, Miss?” the paramedic asked as he let the blonde out of the ambulance. “You gave your boyfriend quite a scare there.”
“He’s not my…” Buffy started to ground out and then decided against it. “I’ll be fine. I just want to get home.”
“Do you need us to give you and your boyfriend a lift?” the paramedic asked her.
“No, thank you.” Angel interrupted. “We’ll walk.”
“Fine,” Buffy agreed as they fell in step with each other after the ambulance sped off. “So, talk.”
At his sudden silence, Buffy punches him. He falters back, and puts his hand to his face to assess the pain.
“What the hell was that for?” Angel seethed.
“Well…That was for having sex with that bitch Eve, or whoever. You didn’t think I was going to let that go so easily, did you?” Buffy glared.
“It wasn’t…” Angel started to apologize.
“Shut up and let me speak.” Buffy interrupted. “I guess I should say I’m sorry. For taking off like I did after the whole mess with Eve. It just…It hurt like hell seeing you with her. And even though Wesley said that you two were under some sort of spell, it still didn’t take away the pain. She was gloating about it, and you really didn’t say much at that point.”
“Buffy…” Angel spoke.
“Not done yet.” she held up a finger to silence him. “It took me a long while to get over that. Just seeing you with her…I didn’t think I could ever love again after that. Then Riley came back…For a moment, I thought he could make me forget…But as I remembered, and as he so graciously reminded me, he was married, and was expecting a child with his wife, Sam. Not my greatest moment, I’ll tell you.”
“So, you were…” Angel gulped and continued, “Going to sleep with him?”
“The thought had crossed my mind, yes.” Buffy answered truthfully. “But it wasn’t because I wanted revenge on you for sleeping with Eve or anything…That’s not it at all…I just wanted to forget all the pain. Cuz let’s face it, Angel, it’s been nothing but a big roller coaster ride of pain between us. Anyway, Riley was the perfect guy, even though he rejected me. Which now, come to think of it, I’m really glad he did. I think that was something I would have ended up regretting for the rest of my life, you know?
And then, you came back to New York, and all those memories came rushing back. I didn’t know what to do. I froze, and the first thought that came to my mind was to get the hell out of dodge. So, then I came here, and you basically know the rest of the story.”
“What do you feel now?” Angel said, stopping their walk and slightly gripped her shoulders.
“I feel…” Buffy paused. “To be honest, I feel like starting over, but I know we can’t. We’ve both hurt each other, but I think we could try again. I’d be willing to…”
“Me too.” Angel told her, moving closer to her. “I want to try again.”
“Good. Then the first thing you can try is kissing me.” Buffy told him as she pulled his head to down to hers.
The kiss was slow at first. Neither one of them knew where to lead it, not because they weren’t experienced enough, but because neither of them were sure where they wanted it to lead.
Within moments the kiss turned heated, and Angel coaxed Buffy’s mouth open. Their tongues dueled with each other immediately, trying to get as much contact as possible. Eventually, Buffy had to pull away because of the lack of oxygen.
“Um…” she muttered. “You’ll spend the night, won’t you?”
“Pretty much count on it, starting now.” Angel promised her. “Forever and Always starting right now.”
Buffy just smiled as she led him back to the apartment. Everything was finally going to be all right now.
-Fin
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